Finished Tu 11/20/18
One of my paperbacks that I had never read.
A very difficult read, and even PKD admits that the first part of the book is almost unreadable. However, the ideas are outstanding.
Asimov and Heinlein appear today almost quaint and outdated. The idea that technology will have no downside in the future is completely out of fashion. And, Dick's utopian vision is far more reasonable.
The book is a kind of black comedy of the Arms Race of the fifties and early sixties. Mutually Assured Destruction.
In the book, the world is divided into two sides; 'Peeps-East and The Western Bloc' or pretty much like East and West of the 20th century.
Psychics 'dream up' the weapons, and they are not even real.
Lars Powderdry for the West, and Lilo Topchev (a young woman) for the East
From the book's page on wikipedia-
"This novel is set in a then-future 2004. There is still a (theoretical) Cold War between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. At the elite governmental level, however, both "sides" have secretly come to an agreement. They have decided that, instead of continuing the ecologically and economically crippling nuclear and conventional arms race, they will pretend to be constantly developing new weapons, which are then "plowshared." This means that these items are transformed into novel but baroque consumer products. Most of these weapon designers are mediums, who create their new designs in trance states. Design of weapons are extracted telepathically from a motion comic book, The Blue Cephalopod Man from Titan, created by mad Italian artist Oral Giacomini.
One Wes-Bloc weapons designer, Lars Powderdry (Mr. Lars of Mr. Lars Incorporated) is the central character. He is depressed that his industry is little more than a fraud, as none of his "weapons" are functional, having become fashion items instead. The plowshared guidance system of Item 202, a telepathic featureless brazen head named Ol' Orville, explains that this depression is merely a projection of his own fears of professional and physical impotence. His female Peep-East counterpart is Lilo Topchev, whom he knows nothing about, but whom Ol' Orville advises him to seduce. He also has a mistress, Maren Faine, head of his company's Parisian branch.
Apart from the comic overtones of this deception, there is a subplot related to alien invasion. Sirian aliens invade Earth, and are determined to enslave its populace. The aliens' first target is New Orleans, which is enshrouded in a "gray curtain of death." Earth has a problem, given the deceptive nature of its arms race and the absence of functional weapons technology. Lilo immediately tries to kill Lars, despite the intentions of their blocs otherwise, but eventually they collaborate. Neither can design functional weapons, however.
There is a further subplot about a conspiracy theorist, Surley G. Febbs, who is elected as an "average man" to the governing body of Wes-Bloc. The conclusion involves an eclectic mixture of time travel, androids, drugs, toys, and comic books."
The book was very difficult to follow because of the clunky writing style. I watched a number of Youtube videos about Dick and learned that during this period he was writing nonstop and was up for days on cheap Mexican speed. He had already been married a few times and was basically writing to support his wives and children.
Although he is regarded as the 'Preeminent LSD Author', he only tripped one time, and it was a very bad bummer. He went to the 'black place of death'.
A little of Dick goes a long way, but his vision and ideas are priceless.
Sometimes the idea of a PK Dick novel is better than the book itself.
ZAP GUN might have worked better as a graphic novel.
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